RAQS SHARQI FESTIVAL 2010 – Competition Announcement 

10th anniversary bellydance competition and festival:

NATIONAL RAQS SHARQI ORIENTAL ART OF DANCE FESTIVAL AND COMPETITON has its 10th anniversary. 

29-31, October, 2010.

Hungary’s most successful oriental art of dance competition is organised for the tenth time this year. Mona Ghazi Dolores’ signiture event is of highest rank of the independent bellydance competitions in Hungary. In 2010 the organising team awaits the competitors working together with Oriental Dance Hungary. 

The most important bellydance event of the Central european area with international judges and egyptian stars! New categories and many innovations for the more exciting competition! International jury will be rating in the competition not only in the finals but in the semifinals as well! 

Registration means accepting the following competition rules. Please read carefully and if you have any further questions, feel free to ask at Ezt a címet a spamrobotok ellen védjük. Engedélyezd a Javascript használatát, hogy megtekinthesd.  

CATEGORIES

GROUP categories:

• Large group: Groups with more than 5 participants: In the large group category only 2 styles are available:
  • Raqs Sharqi: those classic (traditional), modern, folklore or pop Raqs Sharqi choreographies which contain the Raqs Sharqi style’s caractheristics in music, dance and costume design as well. 
  • Show: fusions, contemporary, progressive, fantasy, tribal, andalusian, revue etc..  

• Small Group:  Between 2 and 4 participants. The style of the performance is optional.  

INDIVIDUAL categories:

For solo dancers we announce some changes for 2010. There are more style categories for more unified consideration. The raqs sharqi category has some more subcategories so the participants can enter for their own level of knowledge. In the other categories there are no level differentiation.

Should there be not enough participants in one category, the organisers reserve the right to merge it with another category. (E.g. Arabic Song with the Raqs Sharqi, or Tribal with the Show category.) 

• Raqs Sharqi (raqs sharqi, beledi)
  • beginner: who has been learning for only a short period of time but has the courage to show her skills on stage
  • advanced:  who has been learning and practicing bellydance for years, has stage routine, may teach as well if it is not her main income, and she does not consider herself professional
  • professional: who has been bellydancing for years, performs and earns money with it, teaches, and she considers herself professional / who performs as a profession, i. e. dances for a charge, and teaches for a fee
• Drum Solo
• Folklore (authentic folk dances from North Africa and the near east: saidi, khalligy, fellahi, Alexandrian, Nubian, debke, shamadan)
• Show (revue, fantasy, oriental fusions, special accessories: e.g. Ísis wings, fanveil, candle, double veil)
• Tribal (tribal fusion and ethnic dances) (In case of enough participants a special jury for this category is assembled.)
• Arabic Song (dances made for those Arabic songs which are not considered part of the category of the raqs sharqi megance, e.g. shaabi, pop, Oum Koulthum)

QUEEN OF RAQS SHARQI category: Uniquely in the history of competitions in Hungary, we give prize to the most versatile dancer. For this category the solo dancer must enter for at least 3 individual categories, whose points are added together and by these will the 6 most suitable participants get to the final. 

COURSE OF THE COMPETITION

The date of the solo semifinals and the finals is 30, October, Saturday. The date of the group comtetition is 31, October, Sunday.

The choreographies performed by the groups are the same in the semifinal and the final, performed fully. In the small groups category semifinal will be held only if the number of entered groups is more than 12.

Time available:

Small groups: 4 min. 

Large groups: 6 min.

In the individual categories the participants’ choreography should be performed on optional music and in the appropiate style. Use of accessories is allowed appropiately to the rules of the category. The competiton is settled by given points (only the raqs sharqi category has two turns, a semifinal and a final).

Time available:

Show, folklore, tribal and Arabic song category:      3 min

Drum solo category:                                                    2.5 min

Raqs Sharqi beginner and advanced category:       4 min

Raqs Sharqi professional category:                            5 min

Queen of Raqs Sharqi final:                                          5 min

In the raqs sharqi category semifinal the participant is requested to perform only a 2.5 minute portion of her choreography, after that, the music is stopped. The participants will be able to perform the whole choreography in the final. There will be 5-6 dancers in the final (depending on the number of participants).

Queen of Raqs Sharqi final:  The participants who got into the final based on their points may dance 5 minutes which has to contain a raqs sharqi style dance and a drum solo (recommended partition: 3 minutes raqs sharqi and 2 minutes drum solo).

ASPECTS OF RATING 

The jury gives points from 1 to 10 in the semifinals and the finals. The points given in the semifinal are not forwarded to the final. The jury reserves the right to consult during the final and the whole competition when a case is unambiguous. In case of a debate the head of the jury, Ehab Gadalla decides.

The jury will rate the dancers and the performances by the following aspects:

• technique
• presentation
• stage presence
• interpretation, connection with the audience
• sense of rhythm, musicality

During the semifinals of the competition, 3-4 members of the international jury will be rating (depending on the category), but in the finals there will be 5 members rating the participants. 

In the Queen of Raqs Sharqi competition the participants’ points that count from the raqs sharqi category are from the final, not the semifinal.  

PROFESSIONAL JURY 

The members of the international jury this year are, as always, recognised representatives of the genre, masterteachers acknowledged all over the world:

      NOUR (Egypt-Russia)

      EHAB GADALLA (Egypt)

      GHAZI MONA DOLORES (Siria-Hungary)

      YASSER AL-SWERY (Egypt-Siria)

      BELLA WANG (Taiwan)

The professional biographies of the members of the jury can be found here. 

Over 20 performers, the tribal solo category will have its own professional jury as well. 

PRIZES, AWARDS 

CATEGORY WINNERS: This year we announce a winner in every category!

WINNER OF THE RAQS SHARI PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY: Like previous years’ routine, a flight ticket from EgyptAir, the main sponsor of the event. The winner of the professional category is the same as in the previous years, but the best dancer in the separated categories is awarded with a special prize:

QUEEN OF RAQS SHARQI: The skillull dancer of creative and oriental dances’ wide variety wins the opportunity of performing on the galashow of the ASSEMBLY Festival in Moscow (the cost of accomodation and workshops). In order to win the Queen of Raqs Sharqi award, the participant has to enter at least 3 different individual categories. The points of the categories and the final of the raqs sharqi add together and the first 6 competitors get to the Saturday final.

GALAWINNER DANCES:  The more interesting performances during the competition get the opportunity to perform on the galashow on Sunday. This award does not have to be the same as the category winners. 

SPECIAL AWARD: The sponsors of the competition are awarding the performances they enjoyed this year as well of course.

PREPARING TEACHER COMPETITION: The work of the teacher who gets the most points through her students is also awarded. 

NOMINATION PRICES 

Large groups: 3600 HUF / participant

Small groups: 4000 HUF / participant

Professional raks sharqi category: 7000 HUF / participant

Beginner and advanced raqs sharqi category: 5400 HUF / participant

Show, Folklore, Tribal, Drum solo, Arabic Song category nomination: 5400 HUF / participant / category

Participants of the competition have discount from the ticket prices of both the Saturday and Sunday galashow!

PAYMENT DEADLINE:

The delivery deadline of the musical material and the nomination prices is: 16, October 2010. 

In case of time-out, there will be 1000 HUF late price per category. 

CONDITIONS OF VALID NOMINATION 

 For registration, the following data should be sent to the organisers via email ( Ezt a címet a spamrobotok ellen védjük. Engedélyezd a Javascript használatát, hogy megtekinthesd. ) or mail:

• Category(s)
• Name of school, studio / preparing teacher, choreographer
• Personal data for keeping in touch (name, email, phone number)
• Music of the performance in electronic form or on CD

• Name of the group
• Name of school, studio / preparing teacher, choreographer
• Category (raqs sharqi or show)
• Title of the performance
• The contact’s data (name, email, phone number)
• Number and data of participants for the entering (name, email address) 
• Music of the performance in electronic form or on CD

IMPORTANT!  The nomination is only valid after the payment of the nomination price! On the location of the competition in order to run the event smoothly, previously not delivered music is not accepted! Participants can recieve the CD-s sent to the organisers on the location of the competition.

Mail address for the postal delivery of the musical material: Áncsán Anikó HUNGARY 1133 Budapest, Pannonia ut 118. X / 64.

OTHER CONDITIONS  

• Both Hungarian and foreign nationalities can enter the competition.
• There is no age limit in the competition.
• All participants get the same white stage lights, any special technical requests cannot be fulfilled due to the nature of the competition.
• In a group the teacher can perform as well.
• Participants have to deal with copyright issues. 

Making of video recordings are prohibited during the time of the galashows and the competition. The competition is recorded and the recording can be used by the organiser in connection with the competition afterwords. The participant approves of this by paying the nomination prize. 

PAYMENT OPTIONS

Please, keep in mind when your payment is due, which is the 15th day following the submission of your application form!

For international transfer: 

• account owner: Aniko Ancsan
• address of the owner: 1133 Budapest, Pannonia u. 118.
• name of the bank: CIB Bank 
• address of the bank: 1027 Budapest, Medve u. 4-14.
• bank SWIFT code: CIBHHUHB
• IBAN: HU 63 1070 0732 5748 9067 5000 0005

AUDIENCE TICKET PRICES FOR THE COMPETITION

Semifinals and finals on Saturday and Sunday:  2500 HUF (tickets are for entrance only)

Entrance for large groups’ preparing teachers is free on the Sunday competitions.

TIME SCHEDULE OF THE COMPETITION 

30, October, Saturday 

8:00 registration 

9:00 - 16:00 (The accurate time schedule can only be published after the closing of the registration when the number of participants is already known.)

         Raqs Sharqi beginner - semifinal

         Raqs Sharqi advanced - semifinal

         Tribal category

         Folklore category

         Raqs Sharqi professional - semifinal 

- BREAK - (30 min)

          Raqs Sharqi beginner - final

          Show category

          Arabic Song category

          Raqs Sharqi advenced - final

          Drum Solo category 

          Raqs Sharqi professional - final 

18:00 Queen of Raqs Sharqi final  

Festive award presentation the galashow on Sunday.

31, October, Saturday

8:00 registration 

9:00 - 16:00 (The accurate time schedule can only be published after the closing of the registration when the number of participants is already known.) 

          Small groups selector 

          Large groups selector - classic category 

          Large group selector - modern category

          Group competition finals 

Festive award presentation the galashow on Sunday. 

SPONSORS OF THE COMPETITION 

EgyiptAir Hungary 

We wish a successfull preparation!

Mona Dolores Ghazi and Anikó Áncsán / Sefirah